


Honestly They Could Have Picked A Worse Time

by PoisonHemloc



Category: Gundam 00
Genre: Everyone lives!AU, Gen, Twin Shenanigans, and he's having a hard time coming to terms with that, and like the entire rest of the crew but they aren't the focus, disabled!neil, lyle/anew and locktie implied in a "will you just talk to each other" kinda way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 13:14:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28529052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoisonHemloc/pseuds/PoisonHemloc
Summary: Celestial Being's new sniper is very similar to their old one and no one can tell the two apart.
Relationships: neil dylandy & lyle dylandy
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	Honestly They Could Have Picked A Worse Time

**Author's Note:**

> Taken from a fic prompt from Stray Liger that I don't feel like digging up right now.
> 
> I had to change the timeline back and forth a bit to get this to fit cause. My memory is not fantastic and Ian was unconscious when the main plot actually happened first run through

“Right, Setsuna should be back with the new sniper soon, so I’ll be in my room for the rest of the day.”

“Not going to greet the new Meister, Loc-Neil?” 

“‘Hi, I’m the person you’re replacing, I lost an eye and any mobility equipment you see around here is mine’ isn’t exactly inspiring, is it?” Lasse made a face and nodded as Neil pushed himself out of the bridge and along the hallway. Setsuna hadn’t been back on the Ptolemaios 2 for very long- just long enough to drop off the battered Exia and look through some papers, then jump in shock when Neil stopped to say hello. 

“How-”

“They found me when they picked up Tieria. There’s only so much a rejuvenation pod can do after a few weeks, though, so I’m grounded. I’d just be a liability.” He’d tried not to sound angry about that, but Neil was having a hard time accepting it, even four years later. Better that whoever the new Lockon Stratos was not deal with him first.

The new Meister had come. And now was being shown around the hangers by Ian while most of the bridge crew clustered around a still reluctant Sumeragi.

“That was his twin? He has a twin? He never said-”

“Calm down, Mileina.”

“Our helmsman has a  _ secret twin _ who just _ walked in _ and you want me to calm down?”

“Is Loc-Neil here? I left before he was out of the pod-”

“Yeah, he didn’t want the new Meister to see what happened to him and get cold feet, but if this Lockon is his twin-”

“Are we going to tell him?” The question from Feldt got everyone to quiet down. “Lo-Neil, I mean? I’m guessing Setsuna warned hi-Lockon, but Neil probably doesn't know-”

“No, we are not going to tell him.” Milenia usually didn’t take a hard stance on this kind of thing, but she stood with her arms crossed. “He didn’t warn us, we are not going to warn him.”

“...Is L-Neil working on the bridge now?” Sumeragi glanced over at the helmsman’s spot, where a wheelchair was locked into place rather than the normal chair.

“Yeah, he insisted on helping rather than stay and recover at Lagrange 3 with Lichty and Chris. But he didn’t want the new Meister to see him first. Which. If this is his brother, I wonder if he already knows.”

“Alright Haro, time to go meet Lockon.” Neil held the orange robot under one arm as he held one of the conveyor handles that ran along the hallways of the ship. It had been a few hours since the new Meister was brought onboard; he had probably gotten enough of a feel for Celestial Being that just meeting his predecessor wouldn’t drive him off if he hadn’t already left.

There he was, looking at something on Cherudim, the new sniper Gundam. He wasn’t facing the walkway as Neil pulled himself along the railing.

“You must be Lockon. I brought your Haro, you’ll need it fo-” Him. Out of the entire planet, this was who Setsuna found. The one person he hadn’t wanted to see start fighting. The only person he had left to try and shield from everything.

“You’re here?” The same disbelief, but Lyle sounded… angry? He hadn’t known? Had Setsuna not told him?

“Out of everyone Setsuna could have found, you? Weren’t you working for a trading company? I know you graduated-”

“Have you been with Celestial Being this entire time? I haven’t even gotten an email from you for four years.” Lyle had pushed himself off the mobile suit and onto the walkway, frowning as Neil didn’t let go of the railway like he had of Haro. “I thought you were dead.”

“I haven’t exactly been in a position to email anyone-”

Outside the hanger Lasse dragged Setsuna to the little knot of the crew that had remained with the ship. 

“Setsuna, you really didn’t tell either of them.”

“I figured they would be fine.”

“Since L-Neil never said anything about a brother, did you ever think maybe they didn’t like each other?”

“No?” Feldt threw up her hands as Lasse and Tieria shared a look. 

* * *

“I can show you the basics, but Lo-Neil has more knowledge with the Cherudim.” Lyle gritted his teeth, glad he had to look away to get into the Gundam. 

“He’s not a Meister, though. I’ll figure it out if you don’t want to show me, it can’t be more complex than an industrial loader.”

“78%. I still can’t beat my brother’s score.” Lyle snarled at the little Haro unit. That ‘Best Percentage: 100%’ that flashed after finishing the simulation had been irritating him since he tried it as everyone else crowded around the other Meister they had rescued- Allelujah, his name was- and the princess Shirin had talked about occasionally during Katharon meetings.

“Check the recent scores, not the best one.” He jumped a little; he hadn’t noticed anyone else nearby, but there was Neil again. He’d been staying out of the way since their argument.

“The what?”

“The recent scores. That hundred is from five years ago, but I was testing the Cherudim for Ian and those scores should be in there too.” And Neil nodded and continued wherever he was going. Lyle watched him leave; he sounded tired, and it was easy to tell he relied a lot on the railing here or the wall in the rest of the ship to get around. The wheelchair on the bridge was his, probably, since he sat in it while he was on the bridge, but Lyle hadn’t seen him use it while they were on the planet. 

He climbed back up to the cockpit and turned the simulation back on. Under the best percentage was an option to see recent scores; most were his, hovering in the 70s range. Under…

Lots of 40 percents. A couple of 50s. Nothing higher than 57. That, from that hundred percent. 

The eye patch wasn’t just for show, Lyle knew that. And watching Neil move around, especially in the Earth’s gravity, made it clear whatever had destroyed his eye had done more damage.  _ Looks like Neil isn’t the more gifted brother anymore _ . He blinked, shocked with himself; but even if it had been over a decade ago, being compared to Neil had always stung, had always left him in a bad light, and now, through no work of his own, he was better. 

He wasn’t sure how to feel about that, conflicting feelings fighting each other for dominance, but they were still mostly staying out of each other’s way right now. He could think about it. 

* * *

It would take a few days still to get to Lagrange 3, now that they were back in space. Lyle had been looking for Neil since they set that course, but he must have been hiding in his room. He debated back and forth about talking to his brother if he wanted to be secluded in his room, but who knew what was going to happen in the future, with just how busy these few weeks were. 

Neil had always preferred black tea with milk; that would be a good enough peace offering. His door was locked, but Lyle knocked gently and heard a groggy “One minute” and then it slid open.

Neil… still looked tired, leaning on the doorframe. But he had a surprised look in his eye to see who was here. 

“What’s up?” Lyle offered the tea rather than respond immediately.

“You look terrible.” Neil gave him a look as he carefully took the mug, but chose not to respond to that.

“...You remembered how I like tea?”

“Yeah, I might not like you but you’re still my brother. You look terrible.” Neil did not make eye contact this time. “You’ve been trying to act like you’re fine but you’re just hurting yourself doing that.” It wasn’t a huge leap to figure that out; Lyle had known a couple of Katharon members who did something similar, gotten badly injured and acted like they hadn’t, until one of the medics yelled at them. No one on the Ptolemy was paying attention to Neil right now, though, with everything that had happened.

“...Probably.”

“You have the wheelchair, why not use it.” Neil still wasn’t making eye contact. “Neil. If you’re like this after not using it for a few days-”

“I shouldn’t need it.” That was more muttered than said. 

“You’ve been limping around since I got here, of course-”

“I shouldn’t have gotten injured like that in the first place. I should’ve done it right.” There was the anger Neil had had since the rest of their family had died. “I should have been faster. We found the man who was responsible for their deaths, Lyle.” Now he dropped his voice some; from the sudden glance, he must have forgotten that despite him no longer using a code name, his younger brother was. “If I’d been just a little faster, I would have killed him before he shot me. But I wasn’t. And it was only luck I got thrown far enough away the second explosion didn’t kill me, and luck that they found me when they found Tieria, and luck I didn’t die anyway before they got to-”

“Stop. Take a breath. Drink some tea, that’s why I brought it.” Neil really hadn’t changed despite everything else. “We are going to talk about that, but right now if you keep trying to act like you’re fine you will kill yourself for real, I’ve seen that happen.”

“When? And why care?”

“I’ve been busy the last few years too. And like I said. You’re still my brother.”

“Busy?...Setsuna said you joined Katharon and I thought he was guessing but you did, didn’t you.” Now Lyle stayed silent. “You did. You’re going to get yourself killed-“

“And now I’m here. Should you be lecturing me about that?” Neil drank more tea rather than answer. 

“...hey, is Ian always so uptight? I wasn’t on the ship half an hour before he pulled me aside and told me if I smoke in Cherudim I’m getting thrown in solitary.”

“That’s my fault. One time before we started and he acts like I smoked in Dynames all the time. There’s not supposed to be food allowed in the cockpit either- something Allelujah did but I never got context- but I started keeping gummy bears in there for withdrawals. Just gotta get them out if he’s going to work on it.”

“I should have grabbed some before we left the planet, huh.”

“Here.” Neil leaned back into his room and then tossed a decent sized bag at his brother. “I’d refill a smaller bag and hide it somewhere in Cherudim, he’ll see that entire thing.”

“Thank you.” Quiet for a minute; Neil drank more of his tea. “Okay, what was the rest of what you were saying earlier. Ev-everyone was killed by a suicide bomber.” 

“We found the man in charge of that. Come in and sit down, it might take a while.”

If anyone else noticed the twins being, if not friendly, at least polite to each other for the rest of the trip to Lagrange 3, they didn’t comment on it to either twin. 

Lyle hadn’t been off the Ptolemy for ten minutes when a blond man in a white coat approached, frowning. 

“You aren’t Neil.” Was he irritated that this man was looking for his brother or glad someone instantly knew who was who? It didn’t matter that much, right now.

“Lockon Stratos. I’m Neil’s twin.”

“Is he still on the Ptolemy?”

“Probably? Why?”

“I never cleared him. Dr Moreno, I was part of the crew for the first set of armed interventions but I’ve been monitoring Chris and Lichty, and Lasse remotely. And I was monitoring Neil until he snuck onto the Ptolemy when I was busy. Your brother should not be active right now.” And with that he left, heading for the Ptolemy. Lyle debated a minute before pulling out his phone and sending Neil a message-  _ Dr coming to talk to you _ \- and went back to the rest of the crew talking to a blond girl with metal splints on both legs and a guy with a prosthetic right arm and leg. 

Fifteen minutes later he felt his phone go off; Lyle was glad it stayed on silent. Who- Neil. He’d missed the first two messages-  _ Thanks for the heads up _ , then  _ I’m hiding in one of the storage rooms he can’t make me leave _ , and now the inevitable  _ he found me help help _ \- and sighed. He wanted to stay and talk to the new tech Ian had introduced, but he should probably help Neil. 

It wasn’t hard to find them when he got on the Ptolemy; he could easily hear Moreno listing reasons why Neil needed to stay at Lagrange 3 with how quiet it was. He hadn’t been expecting to round a corner and see Moreno with one hand trying to pry Neil off the doorway he was clinging too and the other wrapped around his waist so he couldn’t escape. 

“Neil, maybe you should stay here.” Moreno startled, but Neil managed a “No” as the doctor tried to get one of his hands off the doorframe. 

Neither was actually facing him and despite knowing he was supposed to be backup Lyle couldn’t help but laugh at the scene and grab his phone to snap a fast photo before he heard footsteps and turned. 

“He texted you too?” Lasse nodded. 

“Dr Moreno, we need a helmsman. We’re running on a skeleton crew as is. You cleared me-“

“Neil had direct exposure to that machine’s GN particles. You had serious exposure but not direct exposure. Get Anew to be your helmsman.”

“Ian claimed her as another engineer. If you really want to explain to him why he can’t have help-“

“You can’t guilt me into changing my mind, Lasse.” And Moreno did...something Lyle didn’t see and Neil made an angry “hey!” and wasn’t holding on to the doorway anymore. Lyle sighed and grabbed his forearm as Moreno started dragging him past. 

“It would be better for your health to stay here, Neil, you know that.”

“But I can still help.”

“Alright. He can still help, Dr Moreno, and we need it.” Rather than continue to pull at his patient Moreno had stopped, and was probably glaring at Lyle under the sunglasses. Neil was mirroring Lyle’s hold on his arm.

“We do need it. Especially since Lichty can’t.” Lasse was on his other side, grabbing Neil’s other arm and shoulder. Moreno sighed. 

“Neil, you’ve never listened to me, I’m not sure why I expected you to today. Lockon, if you’re the same, I’ll have to get sedatives ready when you’re injured. Lasse, I’m disappointed. I will be checking in with both of you and they are now your responsibility, Lockon.” And Moreno let go of Neil, and left.

“We’ll be fine, Lockon, you don’t need to hound us.” And Lasse nodded and left for a different area of the ship as Neil straightened up. 

“Thank you.”

“If you’re desperate enough to text me I figured it was serious. Lasse didn’t check his phone fast enough?”

“I actually texted you first.”

“Oh.” Quiet for a second. Then “I will start harassing you if you’re not using the wheelchair and we’re on Earth. Locking yourself in your room for a few days because you’re in pain because you made a bad decision isn’t helping.”

“Fine. Thanks for the help.”

* * *

“Is it always like this?” Lockon had found his brother supervising a couple of Haros, working to fix a breach in the side of the Ptolemy. 

“No. The A-Laws are worse than anyone else we’ve dealt with and hopefully Ian wakes up soon. I don’t know if we have supplies to get everything running and we need him to know what details to prioritize.” Neil was distracted, obviously, standing and watching the little robots working together. 

“...I might be able to get Katharon to resupply us.”

“We need it.” Lyle walked away; Neil only half noted him leave, planning which areas they’d have to go to next out of the list of problems, figuring out when he’d have to stop the Haros here and have them move rather than complete this. 

He did hear someone else coming back, just as he called the Haros off the wall they were on and sent them to a different area where the side of the ship had been broken open, and started to follow.

And then he was picked up and unceremoniously dumped in his wheelchair, retrieved from the bridge. He glared at an unamused looking Lyle.

“I warned you. We’re on the planet, you need to be using this. If we’re attacked again and you’re curled up in your room cause you wanted to limp around the Ptolemy I will call Moreno today to come pick you up, everything else be damned.”

“...fine.”

“And keep using it until we get back into space.” Neil scowled at his brother as Lyle turned and left without waiting for a reaction. He had a point. Neil should not have been struggling to walk around the ship following the Haros. He wheeled off after the little flock of robots.

No one was talkative, getting the Gundams back on the Ptolemy and preparing to go back into space while no one was paying attention to them after the orbital elevator all but collapsed. Setsuna was in the medical bay, Tieria had disappeared into his room, Allelujah and a very upset Marie were in the back of the ship somewhere, Ian, Anew and Saji were either doing repairs on the Gundams or the Ptolemy itself when Sumeragi told the bridge crew to go get something to eat or drink as they waited for the Trans-Ams to recharge enough to get them into space.

Lyle had just finished calling Klaus to update him when someone entered the room behind him. Neil, in his wheelchair, two of the premade meals they ate on the ship balanced on his lap.

“Sumeragi wasn’t going to leave the bridge so I’m bringing her something to eat.” Lyle nodded.

“I’m glad you’re using that thing. Feel better?”

“...Yeah. Thank you.” He looked around as Lyle figured out which way was the fastest back to the hanger. “Lyle?” No one must have been nearby; he had checked. “I’m glad you’re safe.” 

“...I’m glad you are too, Neil.”

* * *

“...No one on this ship can tell us apart.” It was just the two of them, this morning, finally back in space, getting breakfast. Lyle looked at his brother wearily; he was a morning person only through the power of coffee. Neil got his look and explained. “I’m not Lockon anymore, but if I’m not facing someone, I still get called Lockon. Hell, if someone sees me from the left they call me Lockon most of the time and correct themself when they see the eye patch. Allelujah tried to get me in Cherudim the other day before he realized. You’d think my name was ‘Lock-Neil.’” Lyle nodded tiredly.

“I have had every single member of the bridge crew start talking to me like I’m the helmsman and then apologize when they realize I’m not. Lasse thought I was you when I got your wheelchair after we crashed and didn’t realize until I was  _ pushing _ it off the bridge. It doesn’t help that both of our uniforms are green, but they’re totally different shades at least.”

“And no one acts like it’s a problem.  _ That’s _ worse. We’re different people, they should put  _ some _ effort into telling who’s who, and no one has.”

“And no one will acknowledge that they can’t tell. Tieria waited for three minutes to come talk to me right after we got back to the Ptolemy and I’m sure he was just making sure I wasn’t you. He was hovering in a doorway pretending to look at something until he was sure I wasn’t wearing an eyepatch and I even had the pilot suit on.”

“It’s irritating.” They both nodded as Neil passed Lyle’s coffee over and sat down with his own tea and a bagel. Neither spoke for a while, drinking their respective caffeine choice, until Neil looked across the table at his brother. “...I have some spare eye patches.” 

“Why do I have a feeling whatever you’re thinking will end in solitary for both of us?”

“No one thinks it’s a problem that the only way they can tell us apart is that my eye is gone. Well. If they can’t use that to tell who’s who-”

“There’s either going to be chaos that’ll get both of us in trouble or they’ll have to learn how to tell us apart without relying on that. But they’ll just choose our shoes or something else.” Neil nodded and frowned, but Lyle straightened up suddenly. “The pants are the same for all of the uniforms. Shoes and gloves are, too, and it’s not like either of us wear our civies here anyway. Only problem is your uniform is a brighter shade of green than mine.”

“I have a couple dress shirts that all look the same.”

“Button downs? Really?”

“Unless you have something better.”

“...Nope. No one else is awake except Lasse and Ian and it’s been quiet, let’s do this now.”

“I still can’t see how no one can tell us apart.” Lyle checked the little mirror in his room to see how the eyepatch was sitting. “We don’t look that similar.”

“Preaching to the choir.” Neil opened the door and went into the hallway, looking back at his brother. “Maybe- Hi, Anew.” The new crew member only paused a moment, looking around like she hadn’t wanted to ask Neil this.

“Neil, have you seen Lockon? Ian wanted some feedback with Cherudim-” Lyle joined his brother and she frowned. “Lockon, why are you wearing an eyepatch?” 

The twins exchanged a glance for a moment. “You can tell who’s who?” 

“Yes, of course. You’re different people.” 

“Does Ian want me to come talk to him right now?”

“No, when you have a chance, but today sometime.”

“I’ll stop in when I have a chance, thank you Anew.”

“Can I ask-” She paused, just a moment. “Why are you…?”

“I think you are the only other person on this ship who can tell us apart, Anew, and we’re making sure everyone realizes that’s a problem while it’s quiet.” She nodded thoughtfully.

“I won’t warn anyone. I’ll be in hanger three with Ian all day fixing Double-Oh.” And she set off towards the hangers again, leaving the twins.

“She hasn’t been here a month and she can tell us apart.”

“She’s got my vote for future sister-in-law.” Neil laughed at the look he got as Lyle made sure she was out of ear shot and then glared. “Don’t look at me like that, I’ve seen how you look at her. C’mon, the rest of the ship should be waking up.”

“You can notice that but when it’s  _ Tieria _ looking at  _ you _ -”

“I still think you’re wrong about that. Let’s go this way.”

Mileina sighed, poking her head into another empty room. Neil was here somewhere, it wasn’t like he could leave the ship, and it was early enough Lasse hadn’t wanted her to make an announcement over the comms for a non-urgent issue. She looked around another corner- there he was. Or it was Lockon, she couldn’t tell, he wasn’t facing her and she didn’t want to wait til he turned for her to check.

“Why are you wearing a dress shirt, silly?” She could try to get him to turn at least. He had the rest of his uniform, but why a shirt more suited to a suit than the ship?

It was Neil, he had an eye patch. “Lasse wants to see you, something about the autopilot.” He didn’t move, but smiled slightly. “Neil?” 

“What’s up?” But that was behind her, and she turned.

And Neil, also in their uniform, except for the dress shirt, floated in the doorway behind her. Mileina turned back to the first twin, then to the new one, and back again several times before focusing on the first one she had seen. 

“It is rude to trick people like that Lockon!” And then the one behind her spoke up again.

“I’m Lockon, that’s Neil.” And he moved the eye patch just enough that she could see both eyes and then darted out of the room, fixing the patch.

“I’ll go see what Lasse needs, thanks Mileina.” And Neil behind her also left as Mileina glared at both of them.

Lockon was around here somewhere, Tieria knew. He had to be. And he had to finish his last mission report still, he wasn’t great about that, and Tieria was trying to learn patience and this Lockon was making it hard. He had been mean to Lock- to Neil about it when he had just been recruited and was debating just acting the same to this Lockon, just to make sure everything got written up.

...Why was he wearing a button down shirt over the rest of his uniform. No matter, it was probably him- no, he had an eye patch, this was Neil. Tieria felt a flash of guilt for a second; he wanted to always be sure which one was Neil, and should be putting more work into telling which twin was which, but between the attacks and the Innovators and the elevator, he hadn’t had a chance. The brothers didn’t seem to like being treated like they knew where each other was all the time, but he could go find Lockon secure in the knowledge that the next twin he saw was the one he wanted. Convenient, he was right over here… why was he in a dress shirt too. 

“Lockon Stratos.” The man that turned to face him also had an eye patch on. Tieria turned back to the other doorway to see the first one he had passed had followed him, in a button down and eye patch, and then the one he had just found, wearing a button down and eye patch. They looked exactly the same. 

No, no they didn’t. He could see small differences that would not help him now. He decided to press on and turned away from the twin in the doorway. “Your mission report is incomplete, I need you to finish it.”

“I’ll get right on that.” The twin he wasn’t addressing drawled. He turned back to a grin. “Kidding, I’m Neil.” He glared, turned away again. 

“This is more important than whatever you two think you’re doing. As a Gundam Meister you need to be aware of that.” This was probably because several people were confusing them. But this was not the time. Whoever had been tracking them probably still was; they needed to be prepared.

“Former Gundam Meister.” The twin in front of him smiled again and he heard a muffled laugh behind him. When he turned to look, the twin who had identified himself as Neil moved his eye patch enough that Tieria could see his undamaged right eye clearly.

“I lied, but you stuck to your guns better than Mileina or Allelujah.” He backed off through the doorway as Tieria pushed off against the ground to go after him. Another door, behind him; the twin he had been talking to, the one who was actually Neil, had also left, leaving Tieria clenching his fists and debating taking a marker to both of their foreheads until he was sure the little tells he had seen would ensure this wouldn’t happen again.

Lasse was still worrying over something on the bridge and Feldt was working at her station. Mileina had been sent to go find Neil; he was uncharacteristically late this morning. Sumeragi decided she didn’t need to be here yet, either; better to have the full bridge crew, just in case they were attacked again. She could go get Mileina and Neil. 

There was one of the twins, turning a different corner in the hallway she just entered.

“Hey!” Neil or Lockon, she needed a mission report from Lockon anyway. Whichever one it was didn’t turn back; he must not have heard her. She followed into this little room that just had a good view of outside the ship and frowned, seeing whichever twin this was clearly; why was he wearing a dress shirt. Why was Neil wearing a dress shirt, he turned to face her.

“Lock-Neil, we need you on the bridge. And you don’t have to wear the uniform all the time but only wearing half of it-”

“Sorry, heard my name. Sumeragi?” Behind her. She turned, and it was the other twin. Also wearing an eye patch. And the same shirt.

“...That’s the only shirt both of you have, isn’t it.” Of course this would happen eventually, she should have noticed both of them getting annoyed. Everything else that had been happening was not an acceptable excuse for consistently getting two of her crew members confused.

“Actually Neil just has two of the same shirt.” That was the twin behind her, that one must be Lockon. Must be the new Lockon, she still thought of Neil as Lockon, too, which was probably something that annoyed both of them. 

“Alright, I understand why both of you are upset. I know I can do a better job of telling you two apart than I have. But Lockon,” she looked at the first twin, “you’re missing your mission report. And Neil, we need you back on the bridge,” she finished, turning back to the twin who entered behind her. He nodded gravely, then-

“One thing, Sumeragi?” She nodded, and “Neil” pulled off his eye patch, showing a normal eye. She was wrong.

“ _ Everyone _ on this ship has been messing up who’s who, Sumeragi, not just you. And we’re not planning on stopping since you’re the only one who has acknowledged that so far.”

“Honestly, Anew has been the only person who can tell us apart so far and she’s barely been here a month, so if she can, the rest of you can. And since everyone else has known me for several years, we were going to continue until someone can tell us both apart.” She looked back at Neil, behind her. He smiled slightly. “This is overdue, Sumeragi, you know that.” She heard the other door behind her and turned to see Lockon leaving, then turned back as Neil also escaped. 

She should probably alert the rest of the crew that hadn’t run into them yet. But as long as they didn’t let this interfere if they were attacked again, they did have a good point. It was overdue.

“I know I said ‘no one on this ship can tell us apart’ but I was thinking, I don’t know. That a couple of people actually could and I was over exaggerating.” Neil leaned on the wall here as Lyle smoked, both ignoring the obnoxious air cleaner that turned on when it picked up cigarette smoke; but its presence denoted both the only place on board Lyle was allowed to smoke besides his room and the only place they could discuss what they were doing, since no one else liked even the brief smell of smoke before it was whisked away.

“So far it looks like you weren’t. Who’s left, Lasse, Feldt, Setsuna, and Ian?”

“Yeah. Just because Anew can tell us apart doesn’t mean we should harass Saji and Marie about it. But Lasse and Feldt have to be able to tell, I’ve worked with them all day for years.”

“And I work with Tieria and Allelujah all day and they can’t tell. What are we gonna do when no one can tell us apart?”

“I don’t know. I’d say keep it up but we can’t if we’re attacked, you don’t know how to handle the helm and I can’t take Cherudim.”

“Every couple of days when it’s safe until someone can tell us apart without guessing?”

“That works. We can keep it up until someone can tell us apart consistently.”

“...you sure you don’t want one? It’s weird being the only one smoking.” Lyle offered the pack but Neil just shook his head.

“Dr Moreno barely let me back onto the Ptolemy, if I take up smoking again I think he’ll come drag me off this ship himself.”

“When’d you even quit? You said Ian’s uptight cause you smoked in your old Gundam-”

“The better part of a year in a rejuvenation pod was an awful way to quit cold turkey and I haven’t been able to find any since I got out. Probably better not to start again, but who knows, with how everything’s gone so far, maybe I’ll take you up on that later.”

  
  


Saji Crossroad poked his head into the dining hall to see that Meister they had rescued- Allelujah, his name was- and the girl he had brought on board with him, Marie. 

“Have either of you seen Anew, Mr Ian needs her.”

“I haven’t, Saji.” Marie nodded at him politely. From their look he had interrupted something important, and Saji turned to leave.

And almost ran right into ... Neil? The former Meister who had an eye patch. His twin was a Meister now, that one was Lockon. He had a dress shirt instead of the shirt and jacket everyone else wore as a uniform, but maybe that was normal. He nodded politely, then looked over Saji’s head at Allelujah. 

“Neil?” No response from this twin. “No, I’m not changing my answer this time. Neil.”

“You can’t tell and you’re guessing.” That came from behind them- it was the other twin, dressed exactly the same down to the eye patch. “Marie, Saji, we’re not expecting you two to tell us apart, you’re new here, but Allelujah, you’ve known me for years.” And with that they both left again, leaving Saji and Marie giving confused looks to Allelujah, who sighed.

“I ran into them earlier, too. I don’t think anyone’s really made an effort to tell who’s who and it’s been irritating them, so they’re going to be like this til we figure it out.”

“That’s.. Kind of dangerous right now, isn’t it?” 

“I’m sure they’ll stop if we get attacked.”

“Neil, there you are, I think Mileina and Sumeragi both went looking for you.” Feldt only glanced away from her screen for a moment when she saw movement at the door. No response but he was still there. She looked away from the screen fully. “Neil?” He wasn’t in uniform, but that was okay. He didn’t usually wear dress shirts, but he might not have done laundry recently. 

Then a copy of the man in the doorway appeared next to him. In the same shirt, and wearing an eye patch. Feldt looked from one to the other, realizing she couldn’t tell who was who; she usually relied on the eye patch and the different uniform colors to tell, or worst case scenario how they walked when the Ptolemy was on earth. She had none of that now. They weren’t usually together; now, she could tell their hair was different, different stances, but she couldn’t tell which twin was which.

Lasse must have noticed the silence, because he turned and started to say something, then stopped. Both of the twins were smiling slightly, but neither looked very happy. 

“Neil. I wanted you here two hours ago.” Lasse was directing that at both of them; he relied on the same cues Feldt did to tell who was who.

“Which one of us is Neil.” The one on the left spoke. There was silence for a minute, and a sigh from the twin on the right. “Neither of you can tell, can you.”

“...No.” Feldt looked away; she’d even had a crush on Neil, for months, and she couldn’t tell which one he was.

“You’re Neil.” Lasse looked at the one on the right. 

“You’re wrong.” The one on the left used the doorway to push himself into the room and down to his spot at the helm. “We’ve known each other for years and neither of you can tell who I am.” Neither Lasse or Feldt responded as Neil dealt with the issue the autopilot had brought up and then rejoined Lockon, leaning on the doorway, and both left.

“Well now I feel bad.” Lasse muttered after they left. Feldt just sighed. 

“He’s right. Twins or not we should be able to tell.” 

“We can tell them apart. Lockon has his right eye still. Both of them wearing an eye patch is asking people to confuse them.”

“So if Neil’s eye had been saved we wouldn’t be expected to tell them apart?”

“I’m not dealing with what if’s, Feldt, just with what happened.”

“...Neil wears his bangs longer. Lockon stands up straighter, too. I’ll know who’s who next time.”

A sigh. “I’ll keep that in mind too, then. If this happens again, Sumeragi or Tieria is going to tell them off.”

Everyone was quiet today. Something was off. Setsuna had seen Tieria storm off towards his room; Allelujah, Marie and Saji were crowded together in the dining hall. Mileina wasn’t on the bridge; Sumeragi and… Neil were both missing as well. 

Lockon was probably in the hanger helping Ian and Anew with the Cherudim. 

What was wrong here. Everyone was too quiet. He was sure Allelujah had given him some kind of look when he passed through, too. He didn’t understand what was wrong.

There was one of the twins. He was heading towards the bridge; probably Neil. He wasn’t wearing the new uniform, but they hadn’t worn uniforms during the first set of armed interventions; maybe he had gotten tired of wearing his. 

The other brother was right here- wait, this was Neil. Lockon should be used to the uniform, it had been normal since he joined, and why was he going to the bridge?

Setsuna turned- and there was Neil behind him, he’d turned away from the bridge. No. They were just dressed the same for some reason, but now both of them were looking at him. No one had been able to tell them apart since he brought the younger twin on board, he realized; they must be upset. But he wasn’t sure who was who, either. He looked back and forth, then made a decision.

“Lockon.” To the one who had not been going towards the bridge.

“Can you actually tell which one of us is Lockon?” Silence. Was he wrong?

“You are.” A cough from the other one, who he thought was Neil; he turned and… Lockon, who had been heading towards the bridge, had moved his eye patch just enough to show his right eye.

“You’re wrong, but no one can tell us apart except Anew apparently. And we haven’t seen Ian yet.” Setsuna looked back and forth between the two as they both left. Seeing them together, there were differences. He would remember for next time. He would make sure of it.

Sumeragi paused, passing through the dining hall, to see Allelujah, Marie, Saji and Mileina clustered together. Allelujah saw her and nodded tiredly. 

“Did you run into Lockon and Neil yet?”

“Yes. All of you did?”

“I did twice already. I couldn’t tell.”

“I couldn’t either.” Allelujah gave a small sigh of relief. 

“They said they wouldn’t ask Saji and I, because we haven’t been here very long.” Marie sounded disapproving. 

“I got them wrong too.” Mileina just sounded frustrated. 

“Neil said-after they told me I was wrong- that Anew was the only person who’s been able to tell. If they aren’t asking you two I doubt they tried to ask her, so they must have run into her earlier-“

“Are you talking about Anew? Have you seen her?” Ian pulled himself into the room, greasy and frowning. “She went to get Lockon’s Haro and hasn’t come back yet. I need him too, she said she told him this morning but I haven’t seen him at all today.” 

“You haven’t seen them yet?”

“...do I want to know what they’re doing?”

“No ones been able to tell Neil and Lockon apart, so-“ 

“Oh, the twins, I thought you meant Lockon and Anew. So I haven’t been able to get the Cherudim fixed because of some game they’re playing? Where are they?”

Right on cue, the door slid open and one of the twins looked in, slightly surprised to see so many people clustered here. He focused on Ian-

“Neil get out of the dress shirt and back to the bridge, have you two really been doing this all day.” No change in expression; the other twin appeared behind him after a second. 

“Lockon you too. I needed you in the hanger hours ago. Don’t stand there-“ Ian pushed off from the doorway to grab both of them by their collars- “I know who’s who, and you can’t fool me. You are Lockon, you are Neil. And we have more important things to do.” Now both of them shared a look.

“You’re sure-“

“Yes I’m sure. You’re not that similar.” That was the magic phrase; both nodded and Lockon-exactly the twin Ian said- took off the eye patch. “Hanger. Don’t bother to change, you waited too long now you’re going to get that dirty. Neil, I’m sure Lasse needs you back on the bridge.” 

“Here’s this back.” Lockon handed over the eye patch as Ian let go of them and left towards the hanger; Neil, grinning, left in the other direction. And Ian turned to see five people staring at him blankly. 

“How did you do that.” 

“They’re not carbon copies of each other. Neil wears his bangs longer, Lockon stands straighter. Lockon’s teeth are more yellow because he still smokes and he has the gap, but Neil has the caps now. I’ve also never once seen Lockon do that finger gun thing Neil does, and Neil’s a morning person but Lockon really isn’t.”

“...I’ll remember that.”

“I’m sure I could give you more differences with eating and piloting habits but if I finally have Lockon, I need to finish Cherudim. Saji, I need you working on the Oh Raiser too. And if you’re here, Marie, I need your feedback so I can finish tweaking the GN Archer.” Sumeragi and Mileina followed Neil back to the bridge; they were just close enough to hear “No, you are Neil, I’m sure of it.” from Feldt and watch Neil settle into his spot happily.

* * *

“I’ve only had one person call me Lockon for the past two months.” Neil was grinning this early morning, passing coffee to his brother as the Ptolemy bided it’s time, repairing the Gundams and healing before they attacked the second Memento Mori. Lockon took a gulp of coffee before replying.

“None of the bridge crew have thought I’m you either. Ian told them how to tell who’s who and everyone’s actually trying now.”

“Except Anew, who never had to try.”

“You got a point?”

“Still got my vote for future sister-in-law.”

“If you keep saying that I’m telling Tieria.”

“Truce, I’ll leave you alone.”

“At least we only had to do that once for everyone to get the point. I was expecting a couple of weeks at least.”

"I was too. And we didn't get in trouble for it."

"That was more surprising." Lyle drained his coffee and left. Neil smiled, taking his tea with him to the bridge.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't want to talk about how many names I misspelled (Mileina not Milenia, I find out on my last editing pass) I think I fixed all of them, but let me know if I didn't.
> 
> The part at L3 was going to be shorter but I wrote "Moreno and Lyle practically got into a tug of war match using Neil" and went no, I gotta expand that.


End file.
